1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-taking apparatus that includes an imaging device and forms a subject image on the imaging device thereby generating image signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
The emergence of blue light-emitting diodes has made it possible to generate white light with light-emitting diodes. As a result, there is a trend to replace incandescent lamps consuming a large amount of power with light-emitting diodes (LED) consuming a small amount of power for the purpose of reducing power consumption. Such a trend has been also seen in the field of digital cameras and the LEDs are replacing xenon tubes used for fill in shooting. LEDs require no charging of a capacitor because they are capable of emitting light with low voltage while xenon tubes require charging. Therefore, LEDs have such an advantage that the waiting time between one emission and the next emission is shorter than xenon tubes. On the other hand, LEDs have such a drawback that the intensity of emission is lower than xenon tubes. There is a shooting apparatus having plural LEDs in order to increase the intensity of emission (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-179808 for example).
However, it is not realistic to provide a large number of LEDs in a shooting apparatus to attain the intensity of emission equal to that of a xenon tube in view of restrictions such as limited space. Therefore, when LEDs are employed as a light source, along emission time is necessary to accumulate the amount of light. However, during such a long emission time, movement of a shooting apparatus i.e. shake as well as blurring of a subject image due to movement of a subject are likely to frequently occur.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and provides an image-taking apparatus capable of reducing waiting time between shootings and blurriness of a subject image.